As of fall 2025, forty US states and the District of Columbia have passed laws related to Science of Reading. Many, but not all, of these laws include requirements for evidence-based curriculum, professional development, and required interventions. For me, this has meant: My county adopted a new scripted curriculum with new standardized assessments. I have … Continued The post 4 strategies for adjusting to new curriculum and assessment methods appeared first on Truth For Teachers.
As of fall 2025, forty US states and the District of Columbia have passed laws related to Science of Reading. Many, but not all, of these laws include requirements for evidence-based curriculum, professional development, and required interventions.
For me, this has meant:
- My county adopted a new scripted curriculum with new standardized assessments.
- I have more teacher professional development that’s required.
- We have a new screener for literacy. If students show increased risk on the screener, we develop reading plans for students which are visible to parents. These students require 2.5 hours/week of intervention which includes biweekly progress monitoring.
As you can imagine, this is an increase in workload for everyone, but it weighs more heavily on some than others. For instance, there are significant differences in the number of students who require this intensive intervention across grade levels.
I have already completed LETRS, a common professional development program related to the science of reading, so I got a few hours cut off of my professional development required for this year. My reading specialist is handling most of my data entry for progress monitoring since she has the availability in her schedule to support me, but I know other reading specialists at other schools, especially Title I schools, that could not possibly monitor all the students.
I know I am not the only educator dealing with my particular changes. Different schools and districts across states all had different starting points. There are so many pieces that are affecting different states, districts, schools, classrooms, and teachers differently. These multiple factors could make changes more or less exciting, nerve wracking, anxiety producing, and so on.
I know for my situation personally, the biggest change this year was a new language arts curriculum. Next year, there will be a new math curriculum, too! These shifts happen on cycles all around the country, but I’m sharing some of these strategies with the knowledge that these may be bigger shifts than ever due to changes in legislation and more parental input on what we should or should not be teaching.
I am not going to delve into the pros and cons of particular curriculums or my personal understanding of the science of reading. My hope is that some of these ideas help you regardless of your frustrations, belief systems, or situation. Most of the country is undergoing some kind of curriculum upheaval, so we need to cope with these changes moving forward.
4 strategies I’m using to adjust to the curriculum changes I’ve faced this year
1. Focus on radical acceptance
Angela Watson has talked frequently on the idea of radical acceptance. Notably, she shares in episode 176 of Truth for Teachers how radical acceptance is tied into her book, Awakened: Change Your Mindset to Transform Your Teaching.
She also shared recently how radical acceptance and the phrase “we’ll see” can help us move forward into 2025 in episode 316 of Truth for Teachers.
When faced with these massive (and honestly, every change I’ve encountered even when it’s small has a cascading effect that feels massive) changes, the first reaction is likely not radical acceptance. The first reaction might be disbelief and wonder if it’s actually happening!
Then, we might think about what’s actually changing vs. what is not. We might be given vastly different information at different times. School leadership may be in the dark about certain changes and what’s actually coming, so there is only so much to know.
The reaction of radical acceptance is not going to come naturally. It is going to require our intentional focus. A few phrases I’ve told myself throughout the process include the following. Many are questions because I’ve needed to allow myself to ask questions in order to stay open to possibilities.
For example, I ask myself, “Why am I upset right now? What’s the real issue here?” When we looked at the first unit assessment, I was so annoyed by so many things, but it helped to dive deeper into what was bothering me the MOST. What could I ask for that would make me feel better vs. just saying this sucks?
Other helpful framings:
- I have the background knowledge to tackle this new curriculum.
- I will look for the positive and focus on the parts I like.
- I will allow myself to try the parts I don’t like so I know for sure what I need to change/advocate for.
- I can do hard things.
- I will make the time for fun even when it looks like I can’t.
- What CAN I do? (vs. What am I being told I CAN’T?).
- What will be the most similar to what I’ve already been doing?
- How does this align with my belief systems? (It was very easy to know what didn’t align!)
- Things might change. (and they have! We cut entire units and were given more buffer days, they added audio for student assessments, etc.)
- This is happening. It’s here.
2. Find the flexibility
The biggest shift for me personally has been moving from creating a lot of my own writing projects, selecting books to read aloud, creating my own book clubs, and having quite a bit of autonomy in my classroom, to having these projects and books all dictated for me. I am told which day I’m teaching what in this program. Everyone on a grade-level team is expected to be very tightly in sync.
It could not be more opposite from my first year of teaching. When I started, I had standards which were printed out in a binder, and I created everything myself. I designed entire units around standards. I was the only one who taught my particular content area, so I designed it, taught it, and assessed it all myself. I loved it! I loved the creative aspect of teaching. I love lesson planning – or even better, unit and project planning.
At my training for this curriculum, I was told I would not do lesson planning; I would only ever do lesson prep. This made me cringe! I felt my whole body shift because I was thinking, “You are going to destroy my creative spirit!” I believe the intention was to help teachers feel like they would have less to do and less to think about, but I didn’t want to be a mindless teacher!
This year, the manual told me to pick one read-aloud book on ONE day in the opening unit. I managed to pick a few more over the first several weeks of school, such as Halloween read-alouds and picture books about classroom community and kindness. It wasn’t easy to fit these into my day.
My curriculum started on day 1, as in the very first day of school. Absolutely nothing can interrupt my language arts block now. For example, speech IEP hours happen during math, and social emotional learning has to happen during science and social studies. I had to decide what parts of my lesson could be shortened or condensed in order to make time for these read alouds that I personally felt would add to my classroom community.
My teammate and I ended up searching for crossover between projects we loved doing before and projects that were part of this new curriculum. For instance, in the past, we had students research an animal and create a nonfiction book on a program called Wixie. This year, our first unit was all about habitats. Students were supposed to research one animal in one type of habitat. We opened up the requirements a little bit, shortened our list of expectations to align to the timeline of the unit, and still had students complete the project on Wixie.
The manual was expecting students to just write an essay on paper. We found more engagement and excitement for the writing project by having one paragraph per page in their online book. They were also able to add photos and images of the animal on the computer. We used the rubric from the manual to assess students, and we covered the same standards.
The overlap completely made sense. We as teachers were happy because it felt familiar to what we had done in years past. Students were happy because it gave them more creative freedom, and their finished projects looked fun and professional. No one criticized this choice because we met all the requirements of the curriculum.
This alignment between what we were doing before and what was required now really helped us. In future units, there might not have been an overlap, but we considered: what would make this feel like a final product? How might they illustrate this? How can we make it feel more fun? We found the flexibility where we could.
3. Search for engaging moments
Every morning, my first 1.5 hours are all whole-group language arts instruction. This is a long time to keep my 2nd graders engaged.
When I look at a lesson, one lens I put on is to specifically search for engaging moments. I want to look for the moments of turn and talk (some days more are built in than others) and consider when I might want to have students talk more.
- Instead of merely turn and talk, could I have them get up and find a quick partner? WIll there be a series of mini-conversations so they could find different partners and be up out of their seats?
- If they are writing several spelling words in a row, could I make it a game where they stand back to back with a partner and show one another their word to see if they spelled it the same way?
- Is there a manipulative we could use to mix it up?
- Could we stand for this activity?
- Could we move around the classroom to read with a buddy?
These are minor tweaks that do not require me to change the lesson plan or the standards taught or anything like that. I am just adding an element or swapping out a teaching tool or method.
When I am able to search for these engaging moments and adjust, students are so much happier! When I’ve tweaked a lesson to add more movement or turned something into a game, we have all had a better day for it. It has allowed me to find joy in lessons that otherwise could have been a source of anxiety or disappointment.
One concern that I and many other teachers I know had was that the anxiety of this new curriculum, the intense schedules, and the scripted structure would all get in the way of relationship building with students. At the start of the year, I (and others I know) felt that our classroom management suffered because we were so focused on figuring this all out that we couldn’t be as present in the room. These moments of fun engagement are what helped me feel present in the classroom.
4. Prioritize your time and set limits
Whenever there is a big shift in curriculum, pacing guides, standards, and so on, we as teachers want to become experts in it. The teachers I’ve seen struggle the most with this curriculum shift at my school were not new teachers but veteran teachers. Some of the most experienced teachers have had difficulty changing.
I do not believe this is because they are resistant to change. That would be an easy blame game. It’s not because they don’t want to do what’s best for students; it is the exact opposite. They are competent and caring and want to maintain excellent standards of their own instruction.
No one is going to give you the endless time you could spend perfecting the craft of this new curriculum. If you are a veteran teacher, take advantage of the fact that you have a lot of experience. You can jump in and probably do fine. It will not be up to your standards. It will not be the “best” you could do.
I have shared before about the trap of doing your best. Angela expounded on this in episode 271 of the Truth for Teacher podcast, “What could be possible if you aimed for B+ work?” I heard a speaker once say, “C’s get degrees” in response to the intensity surrounding academia. C’s are passing. When we are starting something new, we will not be A students, especially not right away. If we are protecting our sanity and our planning time, we will have to figure out how to do what’s necessary and be willing to learn from our mistakes.
When we first started with this curriculum, it seemed as if there was no possible way to teach a day’s worth of lessons in the time we had (and we had more time dedicated to language arts in our schedules!). Let go of the anxiety of being “behind” by skimming manuals/lessons/pacing guides for what’s important and prioritizing how to condense lessons.
One thing that was important in our understanding at my school was checking which skills were expected to be mastered within a unit, which skills were assessed, and which were only introduced. Look for connections between lessons and try to merge what you can to save time. Set limits around your planning so that you are prepared enough to move forward. It is not about doing the best you possibly can; it is about doing what you can.
One of my favorite sayings from the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek is “Relax your expectations to a level no one will notice but you.” When there is a curriculum overhaul, take heart that no one knows exactly what a “great job” is going to look like! Everyone is just trying. Set your standards to a level that shows you are personally making progress. It’s about moving forward and learning.
Finally, on a personal note, this whole school year I’ve been pregnant with twins. I have been trying to do a great job with this new curriculum. I do love to excel at my job. I enjoy mastering the art of teaching. I am also especially passionate about language arts. I have not been able to do everything to my standards.
When someone offered to help, I tried to think about what I could have them do. This new curriculum required a ton of copies, so twice I had a middle schooler who needed service hours make my copies for the next 3 weeks. It took them almost 1 1/2 hours, and I was able to just sit there in the workroom and do other things. I was just there if the copier broke or they needed help.
Sometimes things that seem like more work end up helping you (such as coordinating schedules for volunteers). I had a college student come observe me for a couple of weeks right before the holidays. It was a crazy time of year, but she helped me by pulling a few students to support them, organizing some papers, and just physically walking around to monitor when that was getting hard for me. She got a great experience out of it, and I benefited from the support.
These opportunities might have felt like more work initially, but I was so happy that I embraced them and made it work for me.
Months into the school year, I felt like I was finally adjusting. I have found that the teachers who were able to handle these changes and adapt the best have accepted the reality of the change the fastest. The aspects that I handled the best were the aspects that I accepted more readily. Being able to problem solve and adapt first requires a level of acceptance, and then we can move forward.
When I’m able to try new things and take a little time to reflect on what’s working and what’s still frustrating, that at least allows me to go to school and district leadership with solutions and ideas, and a better attitude.
This is a transitional time for teaching reading, and we can make powerful changes for students. I understand the frustration of change — especially when you were seeing success in your own teaching practices before — but if you want to last through the changes and feel joy in your classroom, it’s not too late. You can adjust. You can learn. You can do hard things.
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